


Imbalance

by celeste9



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Class Differences, M/M, Power Imbalance, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-22
Updated: 2012-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-14 19:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/518962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You would do anything I asked of you, would you not?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Imbalance

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally meant to be for Kink Bingo (class fantasies), but it went in another direction. I hope it's still enjoyable!
> 
> Also, it's pre-series but we'll say Arthur's 18ish, so not underage, but there's still an age difference, if that squicks you.

Sometimes Leon thought Arthur was teasing him on purpose.

He knew Arthur’s balance and agility so he knew there was no reason for all the times Arthur ‘accidentally’ knocked into him, all the brushes of his hand that edged just past innocence. He wasn’t oblivious enough to miss the way Arthur pressed into him when Leon knocked him down while they were training (or when Arthur knocked Leon down, which was becoming ever more frequent) or the way he had a strange tendency to bend over in Leon’s presence.

Was it his imagination or were Arthur’s shirts getting looser and his trousers tighter? It seemed to Leon that Arthur’s shirts were perpetually hanging open halfway down his chest and that his breeches clung almost indecently to his arse.

Arthur was an extremely cocky young man. He was used to getting what he wanted - he was the crown prince, after all. He wasn’t afraid to make his desires known and he expected to have them met.

Leon was starting to think that he was next on Arthur’s list of wishes.

That, of course, was impossible. Uther would have Leon hanged for touching his son. And wasn’t it arrogant, to think that Arthur was attracted to him? Why would Prince Arthur ever look twice at Leon, who was only a knight? Yes, he came from a good family, but he was still nothing more than a knight, pledged to serve the Pendragons.

If Leon sometimes, at night, when he was alone in bed, thought that he would be very happy to serve Arthur in other, more intimate ways, well, that didn’t matter.

That wasn’t his place.

-

“Sir Leon,” Arthur said speculatively, his cheeks still high in colour and his skin sheened with sweat from their training session. “You would do anything I asked of you, would you not?”

“Of course, sire,” Leon answered immediately. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for the prince.

“Good.” There was a gleam in Arthur’s eyes that Leon found worrisome - and far too alluring.

Oh, damn.

-

They were behind the stable when it happened. Arthur grabbed Leon’s arm and pulled, pulled him into the shadows and up against the wall.

“Arthur!” Leon cried, backing himself further up against the wall, which probably wasn’t the best idea because now Arthur was pressing in against him and Leon had nowhere else to go. He tried to make himself as small as possible but Arthur’s hips were canting into his.

In spite of himself Leon felt his prick twitch in interest and, ashamed, his cheeks flushed red. He knocked his head once, twice, against the wall, as if that might help. It didn’t.

Arthur’s blue eyes were trained on Leon’s face and he moved his hand between them, leaving absolutely no room for misunderstanding. Leon knew exactly what the prince wanted. The trouble was, Leon wanted it too, but he knew it was wrong, in so, so many ways.

“Arthur…”

“You said you would do anything I asked,” Arthur said, his voice demanding and defiant.

“Arthur, not this. Don’t ask this of me.” _Don’t ask me because I will even though I should not._

“But you would do it?”

“Yes, Arthur, yes. But just…” Leon paused, swallowed, began again. Oh, he shouldn’t say it. “Arthur, just because you can have whatever you want doesn’t mean you should ask for it. Those who have power should be able to respect those who don’t have it.”

Arthur shoved him and moved away, fire in his eyes. “How dare you speak to me like that!”

“Forgive me.” Leon bowed his head.

“I could have you tried for treason.”

“Yes.”

“Look at me!”

Leon raised his head, looked at Arthur standing before him. He was only a boy still, no matter how good he’d become with a sword or how… No matter anything else. He was still only a boy.

“I won’t tell my father because you have served me well,” Arthur said, his face red from anger and maybe embarrassment. “Don’t deny me again.”

“Yes, sire,” Leon said and watched as Arthur stormed away from him. He didn’t know why he felt disappointed.

-

For several days Arthur avoided Leon’s company and did not speak to him except for when necessity drove him to it. Leon did not seek to change this, feeling it wasn’t his place, but he hoped with a fierce desperation that Arthur would forgive his presumption. Though they were merely prince and subject, Leon liked to think that he and Arthur had gained a sort of friendship. It would pain him to lose Arthur’s companionship.

Leon was sitting alone carefully cleaning and sharpening the blade of his sword when Arthur approached him.

Arthur’s chin was held high and he was wearing a serious, almost defiant expression. “I don’t force anyone.”

“Sire?”

“I don’t force anyone into my bed. They can all say no.”

Oh, Arthur. Leon rose to his feet because he felt this was a conversation for which he should not be seated. “Prince Arthur, if I may be frank?”

Arthur gave a small nod.

“I am certain what you say is true. But when… Arthur, you must understand. When you are the prince, everyone else is beneath you. They feel they must please you. Even if you tell someone they may say no, that doesn’t mean they will feel they actually can say no.”

“But I have told them--”

“It doesn’t matter what you say! You are the prince and we are nothing more than your subjects. The power will always be yours.”

Arthur remained quiet for a long time, the seriousness with which he was absorbing Leon’s words clear on his face. “Then how can I…” Arthur swallowed, his eyes darting away nervously, his young face open and vulnerable. “Then how am I to know if anyone ever truly wants to be with me?”

Leon felt his heart break for this young man he had watched grow, this young man he would give his life for. He took a step closer. “You will know. Trust me, you will know.”

For a moment it appeared as though Arthur wanted - wanted _something,_ to speak or perhaps to touch, but eventually he simply nodded curtly and left.

This time, Leon knew exactly why he was disappointed.

-

They were in the stables, quietly settling their horses after a long ride. Leon patted his horse’s neck and turned his head to see that Arthur had finished and was now simply staring at him, assessing.

Arthur cleared his throat. “I hope you don’t have the idea that I have… I am not a _trollop.”_

Leon bit back his smile. “Of course not, sire.”

“I just… I wanted you to know.”

“There is no need for you to explain yourself to me.”

But Arthur was looking oddly vulnerable, in the set of his shoulders and the tilt of his mouth. Leon realised that what he thought _mattered_ to Arthur and that was its own source of power. He walked towards him and said, “All is right between us, Arthur.”

Arthur swallowed and nodded and after a few moments of silence he said, “I... I have been thinking. You told me that I would know when a person truly wanted to be with me.”

“I did.”

“I think that you want to be with me.” Arthur lifted his chin, and though his cheeks were flushed pink, he met Leon’s eyes squarely.

Leon felt his mouth open in surprise and closed it. Was he really that transparent? “Prince Arthur, that would not be appropriate.”

“I don’t care about appropriate. If you want to, and I want to, I don’t think appropriateness should have anything to do with it.”

“I asked you not to, Arthur, don’t ask me to do this,” Leon said in desperation.

Arthur stepped closer, his arms sliding around Leon’s waist to trap him in place, the fringe of his hair brushing against Leon’s cheek. “I am not asking.”

“Arthur--”

“I can feel how you tremble,” Arthur murmured. “I know I am not mistaken. Leon, please.”

Leon felt his resolve crumbling. “You are the prince and I am only a knight, I am supposed to serve you, to teach you--”

“Then do it like this! This is how I want you to serve me. Give me a lesson like this, show me how we can be, the things we can do. I have... I have never been with a man.”

Leon nearly choked even as his cock hardened against Arthur’s body. “That is exactly why I should not.”

Arthur pushed away from him, rough and frustrated. “You are not only denying me, you are denying yourself! Why don’t you want to be happy? Why won’t you let yourself have what you want?”

“Because you are my prince,” Leon said simply and hoped that it would mean to Arthur what it meant to Leon.

But Arthur merely surged forward and kissed him, a fierce press of lips, his mouth wet and hot and as good as Leon had ever imagined, too good by far. Arthur bit him and the tang of blood filled his mouth.

After far too long - and yet far too brief - Leon was able to draw back. “Oh, Arthur, we should not. Your father--”

“I am certainly not going to tell my father,” Arthur said, scoffing.

“Arthur,” Leon said again because he could not bring himself to say anything else. He was only a man.

“Leon.”

And Leon gave in.

**_End_ **


End file.
